A rich history
Man settled here in the Neolithic age and the name "Lomagne" was first written down about a thousand of years ago to designate a part of Eastern Gascony.
Communication highway between the Pyrenees and the Quercy in the north, the area known as Lomagne grew up around an intersection of two main trade routes - the main road linking Toulouse and Bordeaux and the road along the crest that follows the course of the river Garonne.
Antiquity and Middle Ages
Before the Romans' arrival Lomagne was part of "Lactorates" country (West of the city of Lectoure). In 121 BC, once the Romans were installed in Lomagne, the country was politically shared by the cities of Lectoure, Toulouse and Agen. After a pact between Lactorates and the Romans, a part of Lomagne country was incorporated into the Roman province of Narbonne.
The area south of the Garonne was subject to several consecutive invasions after the Francs' victory over the Wisigoths in the Vth century: i.e. the vascons, the arabs, the normans...
Two evangelists, Saint Clair and Saint Géni (IV-Vth centuries), seem to have been the propagators of the Christian faith in Lomagne.
Lomagne viscounts appear in Xth century and their direct successors disappear at the end of XIIIth century, when Lomagne was incorporated to French kingdom. Lots of bastides were founded at the end of XIIIth century. The Cistercian abbey of Belleperche ordered the building of nine bastides in Lomagne during the second half of XIIIth century.
More recent times
Lomagne was laid waste by different wars (the Hundred Years' war, the Religious wars, the "Fronde"), as well as by famine and plague. In addition, our region suffered from the consequences of the French Revolution: many churches were destroyed and many castles were demolished (Lavit, Faudoas).
The county of Tarn et Garonne was created on November the 4th 1808. The different towns of Lomagne were shared between the counties of Tarn et Garonne and the Gers.
From the end of XIXth century Lomagne saw increasing depopulation. Phylloxera had killed the vineyards and wheat could not be sold.
After the two world wars, with farms abandoned and fields lying fallow, desolation took over the countryside, the hamlets and the villages. The arrival of Italian, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish immigrants and refugees breathed new life into the area and thus began the regeneration of the Lomagne region.
Today...
... 76 towns make up the Lomagne area. 32 villages belong to the Lomagne (Tarn et Garonnaise) Community of Communes and are settled in two cantons: Beaumont de Lomagne and Lavit; with 10.500 inhabitants and more than 2.000 houses between them.
80% of the land is used for agricultural purposes and is mainly dedicated to the production of cereals, while 10% is dedicated to stock rearing.
There are also in Lomagne very many, small and medium sized enterprises working in the areas of agriculture, industry and services. Medicine, professional training and tourism are also areas of expansion.
Useful link: www.lomagne.org (in French)
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